Ok, I'm doing a spin-off of my spin-off! But this is a different type of subject, so I wanted to break it off.

Do you write reviews of products or books?

I've been experiencing these lately in the search of some new books that I want to read. I always read the reviews of the other readers before deciding whether to buy the book or not. And I look at all of the reviews - not just the 5 stars or the 1 stars. I try to base my decision on what both sides think about it.

What I really hate is seeing a thoughtful, but negative, review of a book get marked as "not helpful" by others simply because it was a negative viewpoint of a book that many people seemed to love. I've had that happen to some of my reviews. If you post something that goes against the grain but really put some thought into it, I'm going to mark your review as "helpful" even if I don't agree with it. I think you have a very valid right to voice your opinion on why the product was not to your liking.

I think Product Reviews are very helpful before a purchase. And I try to leave them as often as I can, in the hopes that someone else is helped by my opinions on it.

I read reviews for everything. But mainly books or products i'm thinking of purchasing, and hotels, restaurants etc. I've gotten pretty good at figuring out which ones are legitimagte, and which ones are just whiners (in the case of negative). I don't leave many, but when I do, I try and focus on the positive, without being too over the top.

A couple years ago my friend and i stayed in a hotel in Baltimore, for a concert at the football stadium (where the ravens play, can't think of the name). I was very pleased with the hotel, and we had an issue with our sink which they came up and fixed ASAP at 11:30 or so at night. Overall, a great experience. So I left a good review.

I think a review is helpful or not, depending on *why* the person liked it/disliked it. For example, some people will give a positive review because they had a good buying experience, or like the appearance of the book/item, or like the topic of the book in general. Those are not helpful to me, even if the person put a lot of thought or wrote well.

Similarly, if someone gives a negative review because they disagree with the author, or have a low opinion of the topic, or don't like some aspect of the author's politics or religion - that does not help me, because it is not what I would be buying the book for. I have read some reviews that are very impassioned, carefully crafted and reasoned -but totally irrelevant to whether the book is an entertaining sci-fi story, or a good picture book for ages 2-4, or has useful content about some how-to topic.

I don't see anything wrong with marking a review as "not helpful." You can often tell when someone's review stems from only reading 2 pages, disregarding product instructions or not knowing about a particular subject. Obviously I'm going to mark that review as "not helpful" if it's along the lines of "I (purposely) ordered chocolate covered jalapenos. Nobody told me they would be spicy! Eww!" or "Why does this Georgia O'Keefe coffee table book have so many flowers ?"

I must admit that I would probably find a review of a product I personally liked less than helpful *to me.* Not that it might not be helpful to others.

Logged

My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."

I don't see anything wrong with marking a review as "not helpful." You can often tell when someone's review stems from only reading 2 pages, disregarding product instructions or not knowing about a particular subject. Obviously I'm going to mark that review as "not helpful" if it's along the lines of "I (purposely) ordered chocolate covered jalapenos. Nobody told me they would be spicy! Eww!" or "Why does this Georgia O'Keefe coffee table book have so many flowers ?"

I didn't say I don't mark reviews as unhelpful. What you've described of reading 2 pages and then giving a bad review may cause me to rate it not helpful. I say "may" because I've seen some good reviews, actually, in which someone has tried to read the book and didn't finish. But their reasons for not finishing it have been so well explained that its helped me make my own decision as to a purchase. So, it is "helpful" and I mark it as such.

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For example, some people will give a positive review because they had a good buying experience, or like the appearance of the book/item, or like the topic of the book in general

I ran into something today that you reminded me of. One reviewer gave a low rating to a book simply because the condition of the book was poor - and it'd come from an outside vendor. So it was even more off the mark as to where the review was being written. Several people had to explain that to the person and ask that they consider actually reviewing the content of the book rather than the quality of the cover. That was absolutely a "not helpful" review.

Dotty, that bothers me as well. It is one of the reasons why I've stopped reading reviews at Amazon. I always turn to Goodreads instead because they don't have the "Not helpful" option (less censorship as well). Also there are a lot more reviews for most books

One of my greatest fears about the recent purchase of GR by Amazon is that they'll change the reviewing policy and implement the "Not helpful" button

I do find reviews helpful, and there are certainly plenty of categories of products where I decide whether or not to purchase - and if so, what brand - based on reviews. Recently that's been for rechargeable batteries, VOIP phone service, new cordless phones, hotels, video games, and some electronics accessories. Most of those are because you can expect every manufacturer to stretch the truth: "Our batteries are the best ever! Our hotel has scenic views of the river! Our charger cables are just as good as the name brand kind!" I figure if the manufacturers were lying, there would be reviews saying so

I usually read the 1-star reviews first, because if there's a dealbreaker it usually comes up there first. If all those people are idiots I work my way up to the 2- and 3-stars (Seriously, the number of people reviewing iPad 1 cases and saying "My iPad 2 doesn't fit in this and the case covers up the camera; this case sucks!" is mind-blowing.)

I agree with Dotty's original post - a review is helpful if it gives you information which helps you decide if the product is for you - so a negative review which tells you why the writer didn't like the product is far more useful than a positive one which doesn't tell you why the writer liked it.

I start with negative reviews as well, if I'm considering buying something.

It's irritiating when the review is negative for reasons which have nothing to do with the product. I was researching something recently and one of negative reviews was all about how the post office had damaged the packaging!

I also start with the negative reviews. That's usually where I am going to find something that stands out as something I wouldn't like either. I do read Amazon reviews of books, but many times there's less than 10 reviews and all are five star, it makes me wonder who exactly is writing them. I use Goodreads for books reviews frequently as well and tend to trust those reviews a little more. To me, it's always interesting to compare the five star and the one star reviews and find things people are really loving and others are really disliking.

I do think people who are upset tend to write reviews more than people who aren't for things like hotels, products, restaurants, etc.

I also start with the negative reviews. That's usually where I am going to find something that stands out as something I wouldn't like either. I do read Amazon reviews of books, but many times there's less than 10 reviews and all are five star, it makes me wonder who exactly is writing them. I use Goodreads for books reviews frequently as well and tend to trust those reviews a little more. To me, it's always interesting to compare the five star and the one star reviews and find things people are really loving and others are really disliking.

I do think people who are upset tend to write reviews more than people who aren't for things like hotels, products, restaurants, etc.

I agree. I look at reviews of hotels a lot, as we travel frequently, and often to places we've never stayed. As we stay with one brand of hotel (yay points!) I know that there's a certain baseline for the hotel - and then I read the reviews to discover if one's not been updated in a while, or there's a noisy restaurant next door, or no parking, or a great shopping center across the street, or whatever. I read the worst reviews first, and decide how much what they complain about is relevant to me - sometimes the worst complaints, and longest reviews, are for someone upset that they couldn't get their six kids and a great dane into a two bed suite, or that the windows didn't open and they wanted to smoke in their non-smoking room, or some such malarkey. Then I start reading the others for *legitimate* complaints - bedbugs, bad mattresses, extremely rude staff, smelly hallways, those kinds of things.

I do try to go back and review places, too - I much rather hear from people that have stayed recently, and I'd like to help those that want to stay soon.